Box office shocker. 2016 Obama’s America at #3?

posted at 8:31 pm on August 25, 2012 by Jazz Shaw

We all know the rules when it comes to political films, right? They’re just not worth sinking your money into them because people don’t watch. With the sole exception of one “documentary” by Michael Moore, they don’t cover their own costs and people don’t turn out to the theater for them. This is particularly true if you try to produce one from a conservative point of view in the liberal lock-down atmosphere of Hollywood. Well, hold on to your hats. It looks like the the very unflattering critique of the current administration, 2016 Obama’s America, is set to come in at number three this weekend and turn a profit in the first 24 hours since its wide release. (It actually premiered six weeks ago and was previously in limited release.)

As predicted Millenium/Lionsgate’s The Expendables 2 will finish in first place Friday and this weekend. It’s followed by Universal’s The Bourne Legacy in second place and the Rocky Mountain Pictures’ documentary 2016 Obama’s America in third place after starting out Friday #1. That’s stunning because it’s playing in a 1/3 less theaters across North American than the other wide release actioners. (See below for more details). However, its hot pre-sales have made the pic frontloaded, and its ranking will fall steeply by end of Sunday. But its new cume after this weekend could make it the #1 conservative documentary (ahead of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed’s $7.7M). The success of the anti-Obama pic comes on the eve of the Republican National Convention August 27-30.

In case you missed it, here’s the trailer.

Entertainment Weekly explains why the math involved in this film’s rising status is so puzzling to industry insiders, and not just because of the content.

You see, normally, when a film’s theater count increases, the amount of money it’s earning in each theater decreases. This is the standard performance pattern for a limited release and follows common supply/demand logic.

Here’s how things have gone for 2016: Obama’s America, though: Three weekends ago, 2016 earned $34,133 out of 10 theaters, which gave it a per theater average of $3,413 — not all that remarkable for a limited release. When it expanded into 61 theaters the next weekend, its per theater average did a funny thing: it jumped up to $5,202. Last weekend, the film experienced an even bigger expansion, into 169 theaters, and again, its per theater average substantially leapt up to $7,365.

Let’s be clear: this almost never happens.

Let’s be clear about something else that “almost never happens.” It’s a movie which is critical of Democrats ever seeing the light of day outside the production studio. This film only cost $2.5M to make and it looks like it’s going to have taken in nearly four times that amount by the time the convention kicks off. It’s a fairly remarkable story.

Breaking on Hot Air

Blowback

Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.

Comments

I wish him a long life so — like Antonio Salieri — he can see his “legacy” tarnish and fade as he disappears in our collective rear view mirrors.

The War Planner on August 25, 2012 at 11:15 PM

Heh. What a great analogy and one which I hope comes to pass also.

Excellent movie — saw it last night with the hubby at a late showing, so the theater wasn’t full, but I did hear a couple remarks of surprise from the guys sitting in front of us. There was a bit of applause at the conclusion and we even overheard some conversation as we were walking to our car in the parking lot.

It goes without saying that the MSM’s role in Obama’s rise is the most deplorable, and yes, treasonous, acts in history, and ones which they are still milking for all they’re worth. Others here have said it more eloquently, but what really resonated with me, and made me angrier than ever, was how the MSM deliberately ladled on the “white guilt” at every turn to deliberately hide Obama’s anti-colonial views from any scrutiny. As D’Souza says in the movie, it was America’s achievement that only 34 years after the Civil Rights movement ended, we elected an African-American as president. But for the MSM (and Axelrod, since he had been a part of it) to make it seem as though even that wasn’t enough and to use that as a tailor-made cover and bludgeon to hide Obama’s true views to transform this country is beyond reprehensible. For that alone, the MSM needs to be broken completely, their credibility shattered and discredited, and to be revealed as the traitors to this country that they are.

Esquire 7 movie theater on their website had only 6 movies listed when I checked for 2016’s starting time. At bottom of page was “Other movies”. Clicked on that and there was 2016 listed. No posters, no anything in lobby about it unlike other movies playing that night. Wonder why?

Went and saw it last night. It was OK, but the problem is I didn’t learn anything new about our America Hater-in-Chief. It is a movie that low information types need to see, but I doubt many will. Unfortunately I think this movie is preaching to the choir more than anything else.

Went to see it yesterday afternoon in Plymouth Meeting Pa. with my 20 year old daughter Theatre was about a third full, with mostly older people.

My daughter who used to be a liberal (like myself), chuckled when D’Souza mentioned the Brazilian professor, who was Obama’s mentor in Harvard (Obama’s “Founding Fathers”). The guy left Harvard to work for the socialist government in Brazil, and when his work there was done went straight back to Harvard.
Going to a Canadian university, she’s all too familiar with campus left wing politics and doesn’t look forward to the coming arguments with her roommates, one of whom is an Obama campeign volunteer.
The movie left us both with a sense of urgency regarding the importance of getting Obama out of the White House.

Just took my wife to see it. I’m a political junkie and she isn’t at all. After seeing it she is all fired up to go vote against Obama. It’s those people that this movie can reach and light a fire under.

Just returned from the 2:50PM showing in Fort Collins, Colorado.
__PACKED THEATER__!! maybe 6 empty seats in a 500 person theater. I was pleasantly surprised! and as others have noted, the George Obama (step-brother) interview is a must see….

Isn’t it interesting that most of the factual basis for this movie is known to folks like us who have been paying attention. Most of the facts were known before the election in 2008.

…

But they have to go to a movie theater to find out, because the MSM is still trying to conceal the real Obama and his real agenda from the very people it is their duty to inform.

The experiment with the naive and the uninformed is telling. What chance would the stealth socialist have had in 2008 if the voters had been dutifully informed of the truth?

novaculus on August 26, 2012 at 9:46 AM

My husband and I went this afternoon. I was a bit disappointed since there wasn’t a single bit I wasn’t already aware of, but we felt the need to support the movie anyway.

At the end, after the scattered applause (less than half-full theater here in Northern Virginia), I stood up and said, “And we can thank the media for not telling us any of this. Breitbart was right – it’s the media who is screwing the American public.” This was followed by a “Ron Paul!” and a “Paul Ryan!” (scattered applause including mine).

I thought D’Souza did a great job of staying on point – there are plenty of juicy distractions, like the fact that Obama and Stanley Ann never lived as husband and wife – she took off for Washington State a few weeks after Barry was born, and did not return to Hawaii until Obama Sr was gone for good. He didn’t bother pointing any of that out, but kept his focus on what Obama’s objective is.

Bringing America to its knees.

Are you voting for that, Obama-bots? I just want to know if you realize what you’re supporting.

Just saw the film – I was surprised to see so many folks in the theatre on a Sunday night. This is a well-done film – it would be eye-opening to the Kool-Aide drinking masses. The “I will have more flexibility after the election” line made the hair on the back of my neck stand up – its effect so chilling after watching this film. Need it to come out in DVD so we can begin getting it into the hands of folks who would not dare see it in the theater.

I have to say that I don’t expect that many undecided voters to see this movie.

The movie has grossed about $9 million so far … at an average ticket price of $8 (roughly the national ticket price average this year) that would mean a little more than 1 million people have seen it. But over 18 million people voted in the Republican primaries this year — and I think that the main audience for this movie is going to be people who already dislike Obama.

Just like the audience for Michael Moore’s movies is mostly people who already believe what Moore believes, and the people who went to see “An Inconvenient Truth” mostly already believed what Al Gore said about global warming. Sure, there are exceptions among the viewership, but I would be surprised if any political documentary didn’t attract mostly viewers who already supported the film’s message.